Ebola update: Gambia remains vigilant

Modou Njie

The director of health promotion at the ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Modou Njie has said the Gambia remains an Ebola-free country.
He said: “We have been very active in resource mobilisation and surveillance, which shows how vigilant we are towards taking protective measures against the deadly disease.”
Mr Njie made this remark on Monday during a news briefing with the journalists at the Health Promotion Office in Kotu.

He added: “Just recently, we partnered with the WHO to do a simulation exercise to show our preparedness in case any emergency Ebola case arises. The training was marked with a validation of the existing procedures for the Ebola Treatment Centre to safely manage a  confirmed Ebola patient and to identify areas for improvement when managing an Ebola case at the Centre.”
He continued: “We conducted a series of sensitisation events in communities during the first phase of our sensitisation exercise. We are about to start the second phase through various means, including radio programmes. Recently we trained 35 journalists and some health officials to build their capacities on Ebola communication, which equipped them on how to rumour.”
Also speaking, Bakary Sanneh, National Public Health Laboratory Services, said: “We have collected four samples of Ebola suspected cases and sent to Dakar for testing, but they all turned out to be negative. We don't have a tester in the country, but we now have almost all the materials needed to collect samples.”

By Abdoulie Nget